…most definitely not!
Not having had kids I loose track of things like school holidays so when I arrived at Lake Leschenaultia at 6:30 am the other day I was surprised with how many kids were playing on the foreshore at the top end of the lake. It was only as I passed the packed camping area I realised we must still be in the Easter holidays. The other thing that caught me off guard was the water level. I’ve never seen it so low – you could walk out in the reed beds. The water birds were staying in what was left of the water out in the middle and any attempt to approach them meant that you were quickly up to your knees in black sticky smelly mud.Not what I had gone for and I was torn between heading back home or heading down to the forested area at the far end of the lake in the hope that it would be quite and I’d have a chance of seeing some wildlife. I decided to stay and try and make the most of being there – it was after all a beautiful morning. The sun was peaking over the tree tops and gave the forest a nice warm glow and it was the perfect temperature for a walk around the lake. As I walked down the path along the lakeside I met a couple Kangaroos who looked equally nonplussed at the hoard of screaming children. We looked at each other for a few minutes and they got back to the serious business of grazing.
Strolling down to the boundary fence I was happy to note that the air was still and there were loads of midges and mosquitoes flying around. Passerine birds follow the clouds of insects through the forest and feed on them so this meant I had a good chance of photographing robins, wrens, tree creepers, pardalotes and thornbills. I wasn’t disappointed a couple of male Scarlet Robins (Petroica boodang) stopped what they were doing to have a good look at me. The females stayed in the thicker bush eating. There were heaps of Splendid Fairy-wrens (Malarus splendens) dancing about in the understory and on the forest floor. They look like mechanical toys the way they move about with sudden jerky movements. That makes following them through the viewfinder of a camera with a long lens very tricky, but, if you’re quiet and still they will come quite close to you – which makes photographing them a bit easier. The males had shed their brilliant blue plumage that is characteristic of the mating season and were in their drab grey colouring with bright blue tails. Like this they are virtually indistinguishable from the females with the only difference being that they have a dark grey beak while the females have an orange one. If wrens are tricky to photograph then Western Thornbills (Acanthiza inornata) can make you weep with frustration. No bigger than 10cm they bounce erratically around on the forest floor and in the undergrowth with considerable speed rarely pausing. They don’t have the tolerance to be near people which often means when you do get one to sit still long enough to be photographed they are a tiny spec in the frame. Walking back to the dam wall there is a terraced picnic area that enabled me to get at their eye level and conceal me at the same time. I managed to get off a few frames as the birds worked their way quickly through the grass.
I was glad I stayed and persevered. Yes the conditions weren’t conducive to photographing the species I wanted, but being flexible and altering the plan made for a very enjoyable morning out.
This Kaa-kaa or Laughing Kookaburra (Dacelo novaeguineae) saw me off as I left Lake Leschenaultia.
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